The present invention relates to methods of storing data and, more particularly, to a novel method for storing data in an archival memory semiconductor target by means of inducing damage in the semiconductor lattice.
Archival memory media, exhibiting a read-only structure, is often required for storing large amounts of data, on the order of 10.sup.15 bits per device. Several methods have been proposed for writing binary data into small storage sites, having center-to-center spacings on the order of microns, to facilitate the necessary data packing densities. The fabrication methods hitherto suggested all require implantation of dopants to form diodes in a layer of a first semiconductor polarity-type fabricated upon a substrate of the remaining polarity-type semiconductor, whereby greater or lesser amount of carriers are caused to flow across a depletion region formed when a junction between two semiconductor layers is reversed biased. These methods require that the energized dose of implanted ions be relatively precisely controlled to achieve the desired variation in target current with changes in local carrier recombination at a bit of stored data. Alternative methods for storing data in the fabricated layer of a target medium, resulting in high local carrier combination and very short minority carrier lifetime, are thus desirable.